Welcome to Autism Central

March 9th, 2012
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Welcome!

Hi! My name is Danielle and I am the creator of Autism Central. One morning while getting ready for work, when I do my best thinking, I started thinking about creating a website for people with autism and caregivers/parents of people with autism to come and share their stories and get advice from one another. I am not diagnosed with autism nor do I have a child with autism however I have a family member diagnosed with autism and am married to a special educator.

The desire to better understand autism was immediate for me. I wanted to know why the diagnosis did not present itself the same way from one person to the next. Sure there are similarities and signs to look for but the range was perplexing.  I had an immediate desire to do anything possible to raise awareness.  My goal is to provide ideas and share current research with the Autism community.

Many advances have been made since I first learned about autism and awareness has certainly been raised. With the help of social media and the Internet, people are able to communicate their thoughts, what works and what doesn’t, and ask questions. My goal is to provide people with a forum to voice their experiences and ask questions in a safe space.  This site can also be used as a tool for finding the latest news stories and helpful information regarding the autism spectrum.

For the loyal followers of this site, you have probably noticed some changes since its origination.  I am continually trying to figure out what formats work best for the viewers. Thank you for your continued support of Autism Central.

- Danielle

Check out the Recent Posts to the right or use the search box to find a topic you are interested in.

A Little About Me

I’m a civil engineer working at a private firm in Connecticut where I design roadways, street treatments for commercial or residential developments, railroad stations and similar projects. I started my college career at the University of Connecticut as a computer science and engineering undergrad and switched to civil engineering in my first year. I have always enjoyed computer programming and writing code which brings me here to web development. I also play several instruments to keep myself sane.

Why do you need to know this? Well, I suppose you don’t but I know I like to know a little about the people I share things with online and I hope that by bringing my own personal information to the site, others will feel comfortable doing the same. Thanks for your continued support and I hope to learn more about each of you as I continue to expand Autism Central.

Why ads?

I placed ads on here to generate revenue from the site’s traffic. I am only one person and don’t have enough time to write as much content as I think this website needs. I’m hoping that the site’s traffic and ad revenue can sustain the need for a writer to join me and also pay for the costs to host the site and pay for the domain. Thanks for your understanding.

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Autistic Senior from Georgia, Sinclair Coffer, Denied Graduation

May 14th, 2012
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Making news today is the story of, Sinclair Coffer, a high school senior in Georgia who happens to be autistic. He has passed all portions of the state exam required to graduate with the exception of math. No one can claim he hasn’t tried either. His family hired tutors for him and had him take classes over the summer but has failed five attempts at the math portion. According to the local news station, he can apply for a waiver so he can still graduate. Sinclair did just that but for whatever reason, the school board denied his request and won’t let him graduate. What’s more is that Georgia passed a measure that says all students have to pass the math portion of the exam in order to graduate. However, this doesn’t come into effect until NEXT year! So why are they denying Sinclair his appeal to be able to graduate? Well for now, no one seems to know since the board refuses to give his family a reason for the denial.

This hardly seems fair. In fact some are claiming discrimination. Why bother allowing autistic students to apply for this waiver if an acceptance isn’t going to be granted? Sinclair has good grades and has certainly tried numerous times to pass the exam. There seems to be no reason to deny his request. I plan on following this story to see how it turns out. I hope I can report that he gets to graduate and receive his diploma this year.

Sinclair, we’re on your side!

Check out the video on a local station of Sinclair’s battle with the board of education.

http://www.myfoxatlanta.com/story/18346292/autistic-student-denied-graduation?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=7230329

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A Mother’s Day Thought

May 13th, 2012
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What day is today? Today is Mother’s Day!

A little Full House reference to get this post started. So, it’s Mother’s Day. Where does one begin when writing about mother’s day on an autism website? Firstly, I am not a mother. Well, my dog would be pretty upset if she knew I just typed that but in the “conventional” sense I am not a mother. I did not birth another human being or adopt one. My child has four legs, a heart of gold, and only really needs me to feed her and take her out a few times a day. Otherwise my responsibilities include tummy rubs and kisses. So I can’t really write anything and speak on behalf of a mother. Especially not one that has raised a child with autism. So I’m not going to try to. There are plenty of other people that are far more qualified to make those kind of observations. Speaking of, you should check out a diary of a mom if you haven’t yet. I cannot write with the same experiences she can but I encourage you all to check in with her stories. She can offer a lot that I cannot.

I got a little off track there but it was for a good cause so I’ll allow it. So today is mother’s day and there are so many of you, autism mothers, modern day warriors if you will, that deserve to be recognized and might I suggest even pampered for all that you do for your children. But if you’ll allow it, I’d like to talk a little bit about the other mother figures in an autistic child’s life. My mother is a paraprofessional in an elementary school. She works with children on the spectrum or with down syndrome or other disorders that would cause a child to need some help in school, but it’s mostly children with autism. I know that on a daily basis, she’s their school mom. Many of the kids rely on her for comfort and a sense of consistency or routine. She helps them with their assignments or therapies. I think some of them have even called her mom by a mistake. I couldn’t be more proud of my mom, knowing that she is making a difference in these children’s lives just by being there. She advocates for them too. She makes sure the teachers are being fair and not ignoring the kids. Oh, and did I mention my mother-in-law is also a paraprofessional? This year her student has CP but she has also worked with many children with autism. We are all walking together at the Walk Now for Autism Speaks event in June to support our cousin with autism and also the children my mom and mother-in-law have become school moms to over the years.

So if you are reading this and your child has a school mom too, remember to thank them for being your child’s safe place and adult advocate during the day. It’s not easy to do this alone so this mother’s day, I’d like to send a should out to the school moms for all they do for kids with autism.

By the way, this is the song I started the post with in case you didn’t devote the 90′s to watching Full House.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZBNr5foaEo&t=28s

(it doesn’t seem to want to embed so you’ll have to click on the link.)

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WPSU Autism Playlist on YouTube

April 18th, 2012
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I was recently contacted by a member of wpsu.org, a public media group in Pennsylvania, that asked me to share their YouTube playlist all about autism. As of the date of this post, they have 7 videos to share about autism. Included in this list is an interview with Temple Grandin and two videos titled “Understanding Autism”  that feature experts and real-life scenarios. The description for the video “Exploring Autism” invites the viewer to

“Hear experts explain the history of autism, the challenges that children with autism face as they grow up and strategies that parents can use to encourage their children reach their full potential. “

They also focus on adults on the spectrum in the video “Scott Robertson: Life on the Spectrum – Conversation from Penn State”. It’s important to remember that autism does not only affect children even though so often it is referred to as a children’s epidemic. If you have the time to check out the videos, you might find some of them helpful and/or interesting.

You can follow this link to their Autism playlist on YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL656496F79E2AE4DC

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Gluten-Free Recipes

April 18th, 2012
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The Food Network featured their Gluten-Free recipes on Monday, April 2nd  in honor of World Autism Awareness Day. Many people believe that a gluten-free diet can significantly reduce the severity of autism if a child is diagnosed. A quick search for “gluten-free autism” yielded the following inconclusive results on the first page of google:

gluten-free autism search results

gluten-free autism search results - 4/9/12

Notice the dates and titles of the stories.

5/19/10 – Gluten-Free… Diet No Remedy for Autism, Study Says…
2/29/12 – Survey: Gluten-Free Diet May Improve Symptoms, Behavior Among… [Autistic Children]

So within two years we have two studies that come to different conclusions about the effects of a gluten-free diet on children with autism. According to a study published in the UK in 1999, they found that children with autism showed significant improvements while on the gluten-free diet and began to regress upon suspension of the diet. (A gluten-free diet as an intervention for autism and associated spectrum disorders: preliminary findings, 1999) I’m sure the success of the diet depends on many different factors and does not apply to all people equally. So what do you all think? Have you tried the diet and seen any positive results or no changes at all? Let us know, we’d love to hear some first-hand accounts.

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World Autism Awareness Day – April 2 2012

April 2nd, 2012
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Autism Speaks has made this great graphic to help us all “Light it Up Blue” for World Autism Awareness Day. I encourage you to change your facebook, your twitter, and any other social networking sites to this graphic so people ask the question. Also, don’t forget to tell them about the new diagnosis rate and check out our previous post about Autism Awareness Month.

 

 

 

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Autism Awareness Month

April 1st, 2012
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While many are celebrating the beginning of April, April Fool’s Day, and the showers that will surely be followed by May’s flowers, the Autism Community is gearing up for Autism Awareness Month. Tomorrow, April 2nd , is National Autism Awareness Day. Please make sure to make this your facebook status, tweet it to your followers, sign up for the Autism Speaks walk in your area and light it up blue for Autism Awareness. You can put blue candles in your windows at  home, change your light bulbs to blue, change your twitter background to blue and/or the picture to explain the reason why you are making everything blue! Make sure people are aware of why you are turning everything blue or it might not make the difference we need it to. Let’s make sure people know that autism is experiencing rapidly rising diagnosis rates and measures can be taken to help a child with autism manage their symptoms. Without the continued awareness, people will not be compelled to donate money, to fight for legislation that benefits the children and families of children with autism, and to speak up about autism! Without awareness, parents may not know the signs early on and as time goes by, the effects of the therapy is less than if started in the early developmental stages. Awareness is important for everyone; whether you or someone you know has autism or not. It affects us all so let’s make sure everyone is aware this year and each year to come!

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